by John S Willard Jr

Created on: September 14, 2007

This is my wife's story about Chronic Back and Leg Pain and how she gained relief from the never ending pain that was ruining her life.

Two years ago, she injured her back while at work. She had suffered from some back problems in the past, and the injury at work further complicated matters. She went from Doctor to Doctor trying to find some relief from the pain in her lower back and right knee. Every Doctor she saw, prescribed pain medications and muscle relaxants. Nothing seemed to alleviate the pain. Gradually, over the next two years, she went from mild pain relievers, such as aspirin, massive doses of Ibuprofen and Motrin , weak opioids, such as codeine, and strong opioids, such as morphine, and all the narcotic pain medicines including a patch that she wore on her back. My wife was slowly becoming drug dependent because of the pain, a situation that she abhorred and DID NOT want to be in. She had gotten to the point, that she stated, " If I have to live like this for the rest of my life, I do not want to live"! She had no quality of life at all. It had gotten to the point that I had to leave my employment and work just part-time in order to be at home to care for her. She wasn't able to get in or out of bed, use the bathroom, do nominal household chores or practically anything! We even had to rent a hospital bed for her to sleep in to relieve the pressure of laying on her back.

Over the course of this period, she was evaluated by three (3) different neuro-surgeons and back specialists, two (2) pain management specialists and a chiropractor. The latter only complicated her pain more. All the surgeons diagnosed her condition as two (2) Prolapsed Discs, and Neuropathy. The prognosis was the same, from all three surgeons; surgery was NOT an option, because of the condition of her back and spinal column.

On one of the visits to her pain management Doctor, she had asked him if there was anything at all that could help her with the pain. The Doctor said that there was a device called a neuro-stimulator that she might be a candidate for. For some patients it would work and for some it would not. He even said that some patients could not get used to the way the device felt and asked for it t o be removed. She said, " WHEN"!

The following article, is an excerpt from Medtronic's Web-Site (http://www.medtronic.com/neuro/paintherapies/pain_t reatment_ladder/neurostimulation/neuro_neurostimulat ion.html).

How Neurostimulation Controls Pain

Neurostimulation delivers low voltage

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